“Order’s up,” Eddie the cook hollers from the back before he comes through, his arms loaded with bags and sets them on the counter.
I start to get up and make sure I groan nice and loud. My husband comes running, and my brother turns around and is by my side in an instant. “What’s wrong?”
I put my hand on my back. “Nothing. I’m fine. I just have to take these down to the square where the photoshoot is happening today. I’m supposed to be catering...”
I don’t get to finish before my husband interrupts me. “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll take it down there.”
“No! I mean no, you need to stay here and finish the list so I can get home and lie down.”
He eyes me skeptically before putting his hands up, giving a look to my brother and walking away. My new husband already knows me so well, and he knows I’m up to something.
My brother is looking at me skeptically also. “Is this one of your matchmaking schemes, sis?”
I roll my eyes and try my best to look innocent. “What? No, of course not. You know what? Forget it, I’ll just take it.”
But my brother puts his hands on my shoulders and holds me to the seat. “I’ll take it.”
I clap my hands together. “You will?” and then I realize I’m probably being way to excited about this. “I mean, thank you, Tate. I really do want to get home soon.”
He leans in and kisses the top of my head. “I got it, sis. Take care of my nephew in there and don’t worry about a thing.”
I help load his arms with the bags, and he leaves out the front door of the diner. I stare after him excitedly, and my husband comes up and stands behind me as we watch my brother walk down the sidewalk. “What are you up to?”
I shrug. “I may have met the model for the Whiskey Distillery photo shoot the other day.” I turn in Josh’s arms and look up at him. “And she’s perfect for Tate. I know she is.”
But he doesn’t look as excited in return. He grunts. “You mean you are trying to hook your brother up with a model? The man that has hang-ups about being a small-town mechanic? The same man that has sworn off women that are beautiful or from the city?”
My heart drops into my stomach as I watch my brother disappear around the corner.Oh my God, what have I done?
* * *
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Epilogue 3
Violet
Five Years Later
“Great job, guys, run it again!” my husband tells his team.
I can’t take my eyes off him as he runs up and down the field. He’s coaching our son’s football team. He retired a few years ago, and since then he’s had his hand in coaching football in the Wee Division in Whiskey Run. There were so many opportunities for him. He was offered prestigious coaching jobs with universities and even in the professional league. He was offered the Whiskey Run high school coaching position too, but he turned them all down. Because he wanted to be the one to coach our son.
From the minute he committed to me and our family, he’s never wavered. He’s never gotten off track. Everything he does is for us. I don’t know what I did to deserve him, but I’ll never take it for granted.
“Water break!” he calls to his team, and instead of going over to the assistant coaches like he normally does, he walks over to me. He’s smiling the whole way, but I can sense an intensity that is coming off him the closer he gets.
I know the other moms are staring at him. It used to bother me, but it doesn’t anymore. And I can’t really blame them. He’s definitely the hottest dad in town. But Josh only has eyes for me. He makes sure I know it too.
He leans down and kisses the little girl in my arms. We thought we were only going to have one child, Josh Jr, but as soon as Josh started preschool, we started trying for another one. Now we have Vicky, and she’s six weeks old today.